[Gompers]

First off, welcome to OCC! Love seeing new folks and new projects. Lots of great people on here with all different skill levels, lots of great projects and a seemingly infinite amount of knowledge and experience, and it's always nice to see another one.

Aside from the engine mounting situation, that generation tractor is pretty much the same as any other pre-1979 cub cadet. Same chassis, rear end steering, etc.

Main reason that generation of tractor had the ISO mounts and tinwork, front exhaust and whatnot was because those bigger HP K series singles are pretty brutal when they are angry and so IH tried to make it a little more comfy for the operator. A well tuned quietline is a super nice tractor to run.

Major (unique to the quietlines anyway) issue on them is the motor mounts and possibly the muffler/muffler box. You can replace the mounts with factory style ones, or you can go to solid mounts. If you plan to use it a lot, I don't know that I'd go solid mounts on a 1650 personally, just due to that K341 being such a shaker. On a 1250 or 1450, it's not quite as brutal. Some people swear by solid mounts either way. Every one of those K series engines is a little different and some shake more than others, so YMMV.

Also, there's a "cradle mod" that should be done to the engine cradle if you have the engine out and it hasn't already been done.

Other things that probably need attention (just because they always do) is the trunion on the hydro unit, the steering box/tie rods, and the usual rubber and plastic bits that wear out after 40 years.